To the End of Our Days
by StupidityNowOffersWisdom
Summary: The future is a strange thing, much akin to the unknown. For every beginning that ends, a new end begins. Finale deconstruction; dark.
1. prologue

**To the End of Our Days**  
_prologue_

The smell of incense fills her mind, so familiar, so fond, but strange nevertheless. She had lost track of time, ever since she leapt into the unknown. Time seemed to still in the void she and her brother resided in, but it still seemed to pass ever so slowly. She could feel herself ageing slowly, puberty taking its time in playing with her energy, leaving her dazed and a stranger to her own body.

Without any respite from her physical body, she retreated into her mental one, living in her memories, trying so hard to cling to something. At one point, the idea of clinging on to something other than her inventions was more that absurd. But here she was, scavenging for one last emotional hold she could cling to.

"Mother," she breathed, choking slightly on the thick air. "Father..."

Did they remember her now? Those times she spent reading in her mother's company, those times her father would pick her up and swing her around and she was _flying_, so free and happy and so innocent. And-

_Probably not_, she decided. Even her own memories of them had begun to fade. Perhaps this was the consequence of playing with the strings of time and fate.

She had tried, but none seemed to ground her, to turn the darkness she was left in into light. Her parents, her brother, the Gang, but none had worked. Not _Nogi Ruka_, but her.

Her star, her hope, her anchor. Sakura Mikan, no... _Yukihira _Mikan. Her hope would live in Mikan, and that was enough. It was a platonic sort of love she felt, but it was love, regardless, and she would rather have Mikan live than her.

The incense, she later realised, was the scent Hii-sama burned in the Himemiya, and the smoke, the explosion at the Door in the High School Division, and the scent, so faintly mixed with blood...

A sense of foreboding washed over her before she blacked out, the void swallowing her consciousness.

* * *

**A/N:** Hello, it's been awhile since I've contributed anything to the GA archives, so here I am, trying my hand at remaking and tying up the loose ends of the series. I think my plans may seem similar to other works in the archive, but I do not know for sure as I've not been lurking around for quite awhile. Regardless, enjoy.


	2. mikan: square zero

**To the End of Our Days  
**_square zero_

_mikan_

The tears don't stop falling as gentle hands coax her away from the gates, away from all those strange people who're crying, too.

_Who are they? Why do they know me? Why am I even crying?_

The song they sing sounds softly from behind her, and she feels a strange sense of liberation and pain and longing, and she doesn't know why. It hurts her, and she wonders if it had anything to do with turning her back on those people. They had seemed familiar, yet unfamiliar, but there was this one strange, ghostly boy, crimson eyes filled with all things unspoken. The way he looked at her, the way he did not call out for her, the barest hint of tears in his eyes.

Her momentary lapse in forward movement prompted the deep voice behind her to tell her to hurry, and the image of the boy flickered wildly, like fire. Inhaling deeply, she continued forward to the waiting car.

She could not place a finger on it, but she knew there was something about him that pulled her in. She resisted the temptation to run back to him, to ask who he was, but allowed her gaze to linger on him before she turned her back on the Academy for good.

She never did realise that he was only a mental image.

* * *

Returning home was a strange affair, she noted, with all the men in suits ushering her grandfather off to talk before he could even hug her in greeting, leaving her alone to unpack her things and settle back into the countryside.

Lying on the bed, she stared blankly at the ceiling. She was home, yes, but she was lost. Lost, in soul.

_She had no idea who she was._ She knew her name, her age, everything, yes. But something was missing, and that kept thought kept nagging at her. A huge part of her seemed to be lost, something her mind screamed that was so very important and fundamental to whatever personality she had developed over that memory void.

"I am Sakura Mikan, I am twelve years old, and I am home," even her normally chirpy voice had deteriorated into a shuddery gasp. The dull ache in her chest seemed unwilling to subside, as if her body was coping with her loss without her consciousness knowing.

She should have been happy, to have left that strange, sombre scene at that nameless Academy hours ago, back into her grandpa's embrace, and the general cheerfulness of the familiar countryside. But she was not.

Trying to cope with the loss of her identity was too tiring, and she fell into a light slumber.

The moment she drifted off, her satchel seemed to take a life of its own, its contents struggling wildly as the clasp and zip slowly got undone. Out climbed a small toy bear, immediately surveying the area, as if it were infiltrating a high-security building. Realising that the building he was contained in was just a house, the toy ambled off, out of the room, and towards the bunch of conversing voices that gathered in the sitting room.

* * *

"Please, Sakura-san, you have to understand how grave the situation is."

"No. You took her memories without her guardian's permission, you involved her in Yuka-san's war - how could you?!" the old man rasped, "You... promised. Too keep her safe."

Anjo Narumi looked away, unable to meet the old man's gaze. Sakura-san was right, he had not protected Mikan from all those atrocities of the Alice War. It was necessary, however, to ruin Kuonji's grand scheme. But was it truly worth it, using young children as pawns in their never-ending game of chess? He did not know.

"I, I admit so. As a teacher of the Academy, I do have the responsibility to protect my students, and I have done what I can, Sakura-san. It was a war we were, and still are, fighting. If we had withheld all this information from her, kept her under lock and key, taken away her free will, chances are, she would not even be here, Sakura-san. Even if she were not a student of the Academy's, she is still Yuka-chan's daughter, and I will not let her go unprotected. I swear it." Indicating the other man, "Shiki-san, too."

He nodded, eyes darkening at the mention of his love. "I swore to Yuka, and I swore to her, with the Vow Alice. Her safety is paramount, and for all of our sakes, the memory removal had to be done. Her Alices have been severely weakened, and has been removed from her body. We are hoping, with the slowly deteriorating parts of her Alice removed from her body, it may regenerate on its own. It may... one day help her in self-defence, or even serve to help fully eradicate the Alice-based terrorist groups."

Narumi sipped the tea, bitter with emotion and resurfaced memories of Yuka, and the war.

Sakura-san had no reply, stewing in thought. It had been one angel he could not save, and now it was another. And those two men... they were right, their arguments made sense, and he could feel, they loved both Yuka and Mikan, in so many different ways. _If this is what has been done to keep Mikan safe, then it must be what it is._

"I understand. Please, don't let the past twelve years go to waste, and do what you must. She is _all_ that I have left, and I think it cruel to let an old man like me perish in the winters alone."

* * *

The bear stood behind the paper wall quietly, taking in the conversation.

It sighed, before stalking off to the woods to gather some wood for a den. The humans' conversation was too tense and lengthy for his liking.

It seemed, now he was the stupid girl's final protector. He missed Kaname, but this was the duty he had agreed to do.

* * *

**A/N:** I admit, it's quite a chore for me to put out chapters of more than a thousand words orz. I'm too used to my drabbles and poetry... Anyways, we'll be seeing some things that'll retcon quite a number of canonical happenings soon. One more thing, this will be a dark fic, and some OOC instances may occur, so if you're looking for something that's as cheery as canon, this is not the place to be.


	3. hijiri: azumi kazuki

**To the End of Our Days**  
_azumi kazuki_

_hijiri_

He doesn't quite know what to feel, when Sakura Mikan takes her final steps out of the Academy. He doesn't know if he should feel joy for her, for finding some sort of escape from the world of Alices, or if he should feel sad for her, for losing whatever recollection of the years in the Academy that played a crucial part in shaping her.

Neither did he quite know what to feel about his new mission.

Masachika Shiki, the acting MSP, had offered him the some sort of a chance to repent, and atone for his hand in Azumi Yuka's demise. It was a curious offer, one that let him out of the cage of an Academy, away from the world of Alices, at the cost of using his Alice.

He'd accepted immediately, his mixed feelings and inner turmoil fuelling his desire to set his wrongs right. _It could take five, ten, years_, Shiki had warned, _perhaps even more_.

He was willing to do it - anything, anything that could put his heart at ease. Anything to know that he had not killed a woman who fought for justice and not feel remorse. Anything and everything to have a proper night's sleep again.

Memories of the explosion had kept him up at night, tossing, turning, never quite managing a full night's sleep without cries of anguish and chain combustions haunting him. He wondered how those in the Dangerous Ability Class managed to do it, torture, assassinations, fights and whatnot without so much batting an eye, and continuing to do so, mission after mission after mission. There was a sort of bravery, courage, to be able to face the same kind of stuff those nightmarish thriller movies were made of.

It was the sort of courage he would never be able to attain. He was weak, after all. A Somatic Alice that had no clear harmful ability… Who was he to compare to the others, who could conjure flame, cut air, or physically harm the people they had to deal with? Perhaps his lack of bravery was lost with the package that held whatever physical fitness he would have had, were he of a different Alice class.

* * *

Gaze settling on his target, he wondered if she misses her mother. They looked so much alike, auburn hair framing delicate yet strong faces. He had not really known Yuka, but somehow, he felt proud of Mikan, for being as strong as her mother. Their compassion had been unwavering, to the very end. Yuka, for saving Narumi instead of herself, and Mikan, metaphorically _killing_ herself for the Alician societies' safety.

She would never be the same, after all of this. Nor would he, for that matter, but he was proud to have known the original Mikan, who cared for the people around her without hesitation, without fail. It was something he hoped to learn from this mission.

Shiki had been unexpectedly loose in regards to the mission, instructing him to act on his instinct. For once, without a clear guideline as to how he was to carry the operation out, he was completely left to his own devices…

And that brought Hijiri to the issue of how he was to watch over Sakura Mikan. Was he going to masquerade as a classmate? A friend? A fellow after-school club member? A neighbour? His options were endless, yet he didn't even know where to start.

Remaining male would pose quite a problem to his guarding of her, though, as it would appear strange for a boy to constantly hang around Mikan without seeming to be a stalker or pervert of any sort.

"What _am_ I going to do with you…" he sighed, before falling into a restless sleep as the car continued slowly through the country.

* * *

"Good morning, class. Today we have yet another transfer student."

He had decided to fake a transfer into the school after Mikan did.

Taking a deep breath, he entered the classroom under his minor disguise.

He bowed. "My name is Azumi Kazuki. Please teach me well."

His eyes filled with regret as he caught Mikan's gaze, his sudden sullenness inciting curious looks from his new classmates.

They brushed it off, though, as homesickness and unfamiliarity. Some of the girls had decided that it would be their duty to make sure the charming new transfer student got along well with the class. Or, to be exact, them.

The teacher sighed, acknowledging that she would have more work to do, with another student's worth of assignments added to the sky-high pile of worksheets. "Ah, there's an empty seat next to Sakura-san. Please take a seat next to her, then, Azumi-san."

He complied, happy that he had had the luck to be placed next to Mikan - it would make his job much easier, and he'd be able to eavesdrop on the conversations she had with the other students and ensure that her friends had no ulterior motive in hanging out with her. Of course, he could not deny that he did have an ulterior motive in wanting to befriend her new clueless self, but that, he felt, was irrelevant.

Classes passed without much issue, for he had learned all the material years ago. He did quickly realise, however, that Mikan was a lot less cheery than before. She did have friends, yes, but she didn't quite seem to exude the usual energy she had.

He took lunch alone, fending off the other curious students as he contemplated his next step. How was he going to watch over Mikan? It would seem rather unnatural if he brazenly forced himself into her social circle, after all, nor did he have any intention of covertly stalking Mikan.

His thoughts were met with a timely interruption from the target herself, "I, um excuse me, Kazuki-kun. My name's Sakura Mikan - you can call me Mikan. Have I met you somewhere? You do feel awfully familiar..."

His head snapped up, and for a moment, he felt a slight weakening of his Alice and a flash of recognition through her eyes. She had subtly nullified his Alice...?! But it couldn't be - her Alice had disappeared, hadn't it? She had been deemed Aliceless, hadn't she? _But how?_

Suddenly remembering to reply, he spat out a half-arsed reply, "A-ah, hello, Sakura-san..."

She frowned a little, a tad confused by his strange lapses in attention, but brushed it off as transfer-student syndrome.

"Oh, you look like you've not left the classroom at all, today. Let me show you around! Best get you familiar with the school," she said, beckoning him to follow her.

He grinned internally. Perhaps this mission wouldn't be too hard, after all.

"Hurry up, Kazuki-kun! Lunch won't last forever!"

* * *

**A/N:** Just a note - Goshima's minor obsession with Mikan and Yuka would not be due to love or lust or any of that, but rather due to his remorse and guilt from killing an innocent, and from killing a mother in front of her child.


End file.
